author
André Laffargue
1891–1994
A French general, journalist, and writer whose life stretched across more than a century, he wrote with the authority of someone who had lived through the great upheavals of modern France. His work is especially remembered for firsthand reflections on war, leadership, and military history.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Ligardes in southwestern France, Charles-Victor-André Laffargue is generally identified in library and archival records as André Laffargue, though sources differ slightly on whether he was born in 1891 or on September 24, 1892. French reference sources agree that he died on September 25, 1994, in the same village, after a long career that combined military service with writing.
Laffargue served as a French officer and later became a general. He is closely associated with both World War I and World War II, and his name remains linked to military thought through works such as The Attack in Trench Warfare, drawn from his experience as a company commander. Archival and bibliographic records also describe him as a journalist and writer, reflecting a career shaped not only by service but by recording, analyzing, and remembering conflict.
For readers today, his appeal lies in that rare combination of direct experience and reflective prose. His books and memoirs offer the perspective of a man who witnessed war from inside the chain of command and then spent decades turning those memories into history.